4 HOUSEHOLD ITEMS to use safely as YOGA PROPS | Yoga Props | Beginner’s Guide | HomeYogi

Transcript

four household items that you can use as yoga props to support your yoga practice and prevent injury and you don't need to spend any money to find out those four household items keep watching the video till the end Namaste my name is Adi and welcome to home Yogi today I will be talking about yoga props and role in an awesome practice I will also be addressing the popular debate are you practicing authentic yoga if you're using props which are the common yoga props that you can purchase and which household items you can use safely as a prop if you're on a budget but before I begin if you haven't already please like share and our YouTube channel home Yogi so let's get started so the first prop uh which is the most common prop that we're going to talk about is a yoga mat so you know there are a lot of popular brands out there to choose from but when you're choosing a yoga mat the few things that you want to keep in mind are number one thickness um it depends from person to person some people like a really thin mat some people like uh you know some cushion on the mat for their wrists for their knees so that is something that you want to always keep in mind you want to keep in mind the m material I prefer the eco-friendly uh mats out there apart from that you also want to make sure that uh you want to look at the grip and the durability wait till the end of the video to check out some of the alternatives for a yoga for a yoga mat if you are on a budget the second most common yoga props that we'll talk about are the yoga blocks so these come in different types of material there's wood there's cork there's there is bamboo and there's foam the ones that I have here are foam blocks so again now the Cork and the foam yoga blocks are comparatively cheaper uh blocks to have but what you want to keep in mind is again the grip and the thickness the grip and the thickness of the blocks third most common prop that you would see in classes or you would have seen is uh a yoga strap all right now again the yoga strap comes in uh different kinds of material it comes in mostly in a non-elastic cotton or nylon material and they come in different lengths they come in 6 ft 8 ft uh 10 ft I think mine is probably longer than 6 ft uh but these are really good to kind of help you with the alignment and flexibility so that is something that you want to keep in mind you want to make sure the grip the material and uh the length of your choice the next prop that we will look at is a yoga blanket this is also a very common and popular uh yoga prop to use now these come in different materials you have cotton wool recycled which is mostly acrylic polyester and cotton but as long as your blanket is of dense material so as long as it's dense and it is comfortable any kind of material can be used at in your aome practice and as a yoga blanket so this is something that I use a lot whether I am sitting uh on the mat whether I am in shabason this is really really uh a common one for me in my aen practice and last but not the least we have a yoga bolster this is also something which is very common as a yoga prop for an Asen practice they come in different materials they're basically filled with a material called buckweed Hull or um a cotton batting so they're filled with that and these props this prop uh in specific the bolster is used mostly during restorative ens which is basically enss where you need to say a little longer um in a particular Asen or aose and uh that is where this really helps you it's a cool down it's a you know I use it for my shavasan sometimes just under my knees most of the times actually I use this for my shabason or even when I'm sitting in sukhasan so this is also a very very uh popular and a very common and a very useful yoga prop to have if you can purchase it now let us address the popular debate and uh there's quite the Divide on the internet uh about are you practicing authentic yoga assens if you're using all of these any of these or all of these props all right and the answer is yes you are you're not cheating you're you are practicing you're still practicing authentic yoga aen now props are a very good tool for a number of reasons number one if you are a beginner if you've never done a yoga aen these are very good tools for you to practice with so that you can slowly and slowly get into your practice gain that fle flexibility ility make sure your alignment is correct make sure you don't injure yourself so they give you support that's what they are they are props there to support you for your daily ask and practice until maybe you reach a point where you don't no longer need to use it for every B that you do second if you are someone who already has an injury these props again make sure you're alignment is good make sure that you don't push yourself too much that support is not only there to to help you with your injury but it is also there so that you don't inadvertently push yourself even deeper into the pose and hamper yourself further if you are injured so all in all props are a great tool to have during your aome practice whether you're a beginner or you're an advanced uh practitioner they should be used in Balance again you don't want to be dependent on your PS daily as and practice basically will will help you um in gaining that flexibility so there might be moments where I have students where you know they start for their forward folds they start in a vertical all right now with daily practices they may go to a more horizontal or they would they might keep it flat and eventually they might not use the blocks so this is a very phased approach where blocks will really help and it will make you confident uh during your ass in practice whether you are new whether you are injured or if you are even an advanced practitioner sometimes our anatomies are different right our our our torso and our lower body proportion might not be same so there are some poses that come naturally to someone in some poses you might be super flexible but in some poses you might need that additional support and these props are really good for that support more so they are a great tool to have when you are doing a home practice when you're practicing assens from home so all in all to kind of put this to bed you are not cheating when you are practicing your aens with the help of props as long as you are using them as a tool as a support for whatever your circumstance is uh in your daily aen practice you are not cheating now let us look into some of the alternatives to these yoga props especially if you are on a budget there might be a chance where you might not be able to buy any or all of the props so what can you do to make sure you're still doing your awesome practice and you have the support that you need so let's grab some of our household items so number one alternative to your uh yoga mat could be either practicing it on a hardwood floor on a carpet or a rug or you could take a towel a bunch of towels the best would be a beach towel take two beach towels and practice that on a hardwood floor or a carpet and you're good to go second alternative to uh the blocks right if you don't have the kind of money to buy expensive pork blocks or bone blocks you can use hard cover blocks all right you can use them as something that you can place on the mat for your stability to ground yourself um especially if you're in a lunge and you're having a hard time Reaching Your Hands on the mat these are uh really good Alternatives I mean I'm sure a lot of people have hard cover books so that is something that you can use during your awesome practice safely the thickness of the bit might vary so maybe stack them together but as long as they're hard cover I think you should be okay the second is uh the strap right for the strap again you could just use a towel you could use a towel or you could use um like a long scarf that you have wrap it around the ball of your foot or however you are using the strap behind and you can use it perfectly so now let's talk about the bolster I don't have a cushion here but if you have pillows at home or if you have cushions for on your couch you can easily use them again based on the thickness you might either be able to stack them together to get that kind of support and that is totally fine remember the thickness of it should be for the for the cushions should be somewhere in the medium to the firm range because you don't want something really soft because that's not really going to give you that kind of support that maybe a bolster or a block might give uh some other alternatives to your your yoga aen practice is this that I'm sitting on a chair I'm sitting on a folding chair but if you have a dining chair if you have an office chair or if you have a study a study chair you could use any chair as long as your feet are comfortably planted on the on the mat and you have your back is upright you are good to go there are a lot of yoga AES that you could do on sitting in a chair there is also a video that we have shared that is more specific to yoga with Sara but those are three poses that you could do in a chair yoga poses that anyone can do in a chair and the last alternative that you can use is the wall right behind me you can use this wall for most of your practice in terms of modifications again I have done a few wall poses on my channel and you can kind of get some references on which wild poses you could do at home so I hope this makes sense it is a trial and error uh when it comes to props some people love it some people use it time and again but I hope this really gives you a good guide of which prop works for you and which household item to use when you are on a budget and still want to continue with your yoga practice I hope you found this video helpful we will see you next week on the mat till then stay safe and stay happy Dad